Wall construction



A ril 1, 1969.

J. o. O'LEARY 1 WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed June 20, 1966 INVENTOR JAMES D.O'LEARY BY 7ndrus Star/(e United States Patent 3,435,577 WALLCONSTRUCTION James D. OLeary, 11345 N. Valley Drive, Mequon, Wis. 53092Filed June 20, 1966, Ser. No. 558,851 Int. Cl. E04c 1/04 US. Cl. 52309Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A wall construction including a sheetof foraminous material which is secured to a vertical supportingstructure. A layer of adhesive is applied to the foraminous material andis composed of polyester resin, a granular, generally inert filler andshort asbestos fibers, and a series of stones or other objects arebonded to the adhesive layer.

This invention relates to a wall construction and more particularly to awall construction including exposed decorative articles, such as stoneor the like.

Stone and brick veneer walls are normally supported by footings whichextend down beneath the frost level and the stones or brick are laid upwith mortar joints. This type of wall construction is relativelyexpensive, because of the requirement for footings and due to thenecessity of individually laying up each brick or stone with mortar. Insome cases, precast panels having exposed stone or aggregate surfacesare used for interior or exterior walls. With the precast panel, thestones are generally set into a horizontal mortar bed and after settingof the mortar, the panel is erected. Due to the weight of the precastpanels, expensive erecting equipment, such as a crane, is required toerect and position the panels.

In the past, attempts have been made to apply relatively large stones bymortar to a vertical wall surface in order to eliminate the problems andexpense associated with footings and precast panels. However, theseattempts have not met with success because even relatively small stonestend to slip downwardly in the mortar.

The present invention is directed to a wall construction in whichrelatively large stones or other decorative objects can be applieddirectly to a vertical wall surface without the requirement of footings.More specifically, the wall structure of the invention includes a sheetof expanded metal lath which is secured to a vertical supportingstructure, such as wallboard, sheathing, concrete block, metal studs, aconcrete wall, or the like, and a layer of adhesive is applied to theexpanded metal lath and is bonded within the openings of the lath.

According to the invention, the adhesive comprises a mixture of apolyester resin, a granular filler, such as sand, and relatively shortasbestos fibers. After troweling the adhesive on the lath to provide anadhesive layer generally less than /2 inch in thickness, the stones orother objects are set in the adhesive. The adhesive, while relativelyviscous, can be readily troweled on the lath and it has been found thatlarge stones having a dimension up to 8 inches and a weight up to 5pounds will firmly adhere to the adhesive layer on the vertical surfacewithout slipping or sliding.

The present wall construction enables relatively large stones to beapplied to a vertical wall surface without the requirement for expensivefootings. Moreover, the installation of the decorative wall of theinvention is a comparatively fast operation, as compared to traditionalmasonry methods of wall construction and this results in a substantiallabor savings.

The adhesive, even though it has a relatively viscous consistency, canbe smoothly troweled over the metal ICC lath, and the asbestos fiberspenetrate with the openings in the lath to provide a tightly adherentlayer which will firmly bond relatively large stones to the verticalwall. In addition, the asbestos serves as a fibrous reinforcement forthe adhesive layer which prevents cracking of the adhesive under extremetemperature variations.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the course of the followingdescription.

The drawings illustrate the best mode presently contemplated of carryingout the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a fireplace wall utilizing the construction ofthe invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section taken through the Wall; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the wall with parts broken away insection.

The drawings illustrate a wall structure fabricated in accordance withthe invention and includes a central panel having relatively large,exposed stone which is located above a fireplace 2. Positioned beneaththe hearth 3 of the fireplace is a lower panel 4 which also includes aplurality of relatively small decorative stones. Side panels 5 arepositioned on either side of the central panel 1 and extend the heightof the wall. As shown in the drawings, the side panels are formed with aplurality of smaller, decorative type stones.

The wall of the invention is shown in greater detail in FIG. 2 andincludes a series of vertical wood studs 6 which support a sheet ofwallboard 7 or sheathing. A sheet of perforated 0r foraminous material 8is applied over the sheathing 7 and a layer of adhesive 9 covers thesheet 8 and extends within the openings in the sheet 8. Bonded to theadhesive layer 9 are a series of decorative stones 10.

The foraminous backing member 8 is preferably formed of expanded metallath, with the maximum dimension of the holes in the lath being lessthan 1 inch, and preferably the holes will have a size in the range of/4 to inch. It has been found that 225 gauge expanded metal lath, havingdiamond-shaped openings with a size of M: x inch, provides a mostsatisfactory backing member.

While the drawings illustrate the metal lath 8 secured to studs 6, it iscontemplated that other types of supporting members can be substitutedfor the studs, such as concrete block, poured concrete, metal channelsor studs, or the like.

The adhesive layer 9 is a mixture of a cured polyester ii'iesin, agranular or tfinely divided filler and asbestos b ers.

The adhesive composition has the following general formulation in weightpercent:

Polyester resin 20 to 60 Filler 35 to Asbestos fibers 3 to 15 Apreferred formulation is as follows in weight percent:

Polyester resin 39 Filler 54 Asbestos fiber-s 7 The use of the polyesterresin is important to the invention, for it has been found that otherthermosetting resins will not provide the desired properties for theadhesive layer. For example, it has been found that polyester resins canbe formed by the reaction of a polyhydric saturated or unsaturatedpolybasic acid either with or without a modifying unsaturated monomersuch as styrene or the like. Specific examples of the basic materialare, for instance, diethylene glycol maleate, dipropylene glycolmaleate, diethylene glycol fumarate, and the like. The basic materialsare readily polymerized by peroxy catalysts such as benzoyl peroxide,tertiary butyl perbenzoate, and the like.

The filler can be any conventional finely divided, generally inertmaterial, such as sand, clay, granulated marble, pearlite (organic ash),sawdust, and the like. For most applications, sand is preferred becauseit is readily available and inexpensive.

The asbestos fibers provide a reinforcement for the adhesive layer whichiprevcnts the layer from cracking dur ing extreme temperature conditionsand also interlock with the openings in the backing member 8 to firmlybond the adhesive layer to the backing member. As an added advantage,the asbestos fibers, while increasing the visc*osity of the adhesive,provide a certain degree of lubricity, reducing the drag and making iteasier to trowel the adhesive composition onto the metal lath. Otherfibrous materials, such as glass fibers, are not as satisfactory asabsetos fibers and tend to ball up in the mixture and increase the dragduring troweling. The asbestos fibers have a length less than 12 inchand generally have a length in the range of /s to /4 inch.

The decorative stones 10 can range in size from #1 stone, such as peagravel, to large stones having a maximum dimension up to about 8 or 10inches and a weight up to 5 pounds. Generally, the stones will have athickness less than 1 inch. The stones can be limestone, granite,marble, slate, or the like, and in some cases other decorative articles,such as glass, metal objects, brick cookies, and the like, can besubstituted for the stones 10.

The adhesive composition is normally prepared by initially addingcoloring material, if desired, to the polyester resin and then mixing inthe catalyst for the rsin. Following this, the sand and asbestos fibersare mixed with the resin, either by hand or mechanically to obtainuniform distribution of the ingredients.

The adhesive composition is then troweled over the expanded metal mesh 8to provide an adhesive layer about A inch thick. As the rnsh 8 normallyhas a thickness of about A; inch, this results in a layer of adhesiveabout 4; inch thick projecting outwardly beyond the mesh. During thetroweling, the adhesive composition fills in the openings in the meshand also bonds to the supporting structure which can be the sheathing,concrete wall, or concrete block, or the like. As previously mentioned,the adhesive layer is applied normally with a thickness of about inchand preferably less than /2 inch. An adhesive layer greater than /2 inchin thickness provides no particular advantage and is considerably morecostly.

After the adhesive layer has been troweled over the backing member, thestones or other decorative objects are set by hand into the adhesivelayer. It has been found that with the adjesive composition of theinvention, relatively large sized objects weighing up to 5 pounds willnot slip or slide from the vertical wall surface, but will firmly adhereto the adhesive layer. The adhesive layer, as troweled on the lath, isrelatively viscous due to the addition of asbestos fibers, but theasbestos serves to impart a degree of lubricity which enables theadhesive composition to be smoothly troweled over the metal lath. Inaddition, the fibers aid in interlocking the stones 10 to the Openingsin the lath 8 and prevent the stones or other objects from slippingvertically along the Wall.

Normally, the stones or other objects will be firmly held by theadhesive layer and no grount need be applied between the joints unlessit is desired for a particular decorative effect.

The wall construction of the invention does not require footings, andyet enables relatively large stones to be applied directly to a verticalWall surface. Moreover, the wall construction of the invention can beinstalled very rapidly and a fireplace Wall, as shown in FIG. 1, can beeasily installed by one man in several hours time. This is a substantialreduction in the time and expense required to erect a similar wall byconventional masonry practices.

While the wall construction is particularly adaptable to usingrelatively large stones or decorative objects, small stones, such as peagravel or other objects, can be also used as the decorative material.The wall can be employed as either an internal or an external wall anddue to the fibrous reinforcement provided by the asbestos fibers, thewall construction is able to withstand extreme variations in temperatureWithout cracking or crazing.

The term wall construction as used in the description and claims isintended to include any structural or nonstructural wall or panel usednot only in buildings but as free standing Walls, dividers, floors,roofs and the like.

Various modes of carrying out the invention are contemplated as beingwithin the scope of the following claims particularly pointing out anddistinctly claiming the subject matter which is regarded as theinvention.

I claim:

1. A wall construction, comprising a substantially vertical supportingstructure, a substantially rigid foraminous member secured to thesupporting structure, said member having a series of openings with themaximum dimension 'of said openings being about 1 inch, a layer ofadhesive comprising 20% to 60% by weight of polyester resin, 35% to byweight of a granular, :generally inert filler, and 3% to 15% by weightof asbestos fibers having a length in the range of A; to /2 inch, and aplurality of stones bonded to the adhesive layer with at least a portionof the stones being exposed to provide a decorative appearance for thewall.

2. The wall construction of claim 1, in which the backing member isformed of expanded metal.

3. The wall construction of claim 1, in which the thickness of theadhesive layer is less than /2 inch.

4. The wall construction of claim 1 in which the adhesive has thefollowing composition in weight percent:

Polyester resin 39 Filler 54 Asbestos filbers 7 5. The wall constructionof claim 1, in which the filler is sand.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,229,742 1/ 1941 Kauffman52---309 X 2,718 829 9/1955 Seymour 52390 X 2,850,890 9/1958 Rubenstein52309 X 3,077,424 2/1963 Maker. 3,125,831 3/1964 Marsch 52309 JOHN E.MURTAGH, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R.

